Mr. Bailey is sitting high up on his cushion of contentment staring at us with his blue eyes half open. As I look to his left nearby, there is a Buddha statue, a bamboo-water bowl and if you sniff the air, you will get a gentle breeze from the incense on the table. I even put my mala beads around his neck so they are gently hanging off his cushion.
In all of his surrounding he is looking mighty Zen.
He opens his eyes slightly, stretches his paws and gives a little sigh.
Perhaps he is getting ready to share some wisdom.
Nope.
He grabs the beads with his paw swatting them around. He then rolls in a playful yet undesirable butt-up in the air fashion to remove the beads. To no avail, he rolls off his cushion and onto the sofa. The soft cushion lands on top of him, beads around his paw.
I wait for him to scamper away.
Nope.
Instead I see a paw sneak out from under the cushion to grab the beads.
My Zen cat now has a floppy cushion on his head.
Perhaps now he will now part some wisdom?
Nope again…
He is going to take a nap under the cushion.
Half-hour later when he finally moves, he backs out from under this extra-wide cushion with his butt up in the air almost knocking over the Buddha statue. He walks away, leaving his cushion and bead mess behind. He decides to get a drink from the bamboo-water bowl.
Great.. the incense just made him sneeze.
So much for MY image of a Zen Cat.
- I created “MY” image of a Zen Cat with my statue, incense and bamboo bowl. It is good to create an atmosphere that is relaxing, but the objects themselves are not Zen.
- Sitting on a cushion of contentment for too long can make one inactive in the Zen mind and cause sleep. Wearing a cushion on the head obviously does the same.
- Beads, Buddha and a cushion do not make a Zen Cat, nor does anticipating a zen action.
The most zen thing that happened was being present in his silly-playful moment. Perhaps that was my Zen lesson.
silly human
“When you “think” you have found Zen, you just lost it.”
KT Cat Paws